Excerpt:
Pulse nightclub gunman Omar Mateen’s father, Seddique Mateen, was an FBI informant for more than a decade before the 2016 mass shooting and is facing a criminal investigation in connection with money transfers to Turkey and Afghanistan, it was disclosed Monday during the trial of Mateen’s widow.
FBI Special Agent Juvenal Martin also testified that he considered developing Omar Mateen as an informant after closing an investigation into comments Mateen made at work in 2013 about belonging to terrorist organizations.
Defense lawyers for Noor Salman argued the case against her should be thrown out or declared a mistrial, but U.S. District Judge Paul Byron rejected that request.
“This trial is not about Seddique Mateen. It’s about Noor Salman,” Byron said.